


Making Button House a Home

by Wanna_be_goodr



Category: Ghosts (TV 2019)
Genre: Cute, Cute kitty, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Ghosts, Interior Decorating, Mary loves animals, Nonsense, Pat's adorable and lovely, Sweet, The Captain is Gay (Ghosts TV 2019), Thomas is only a little bit creepy, but he's waaaaaaay better than he used to be, character development I'm so proud, fluff and nonsense, it just needs to be said, it's not mentioned at all but this is important, six idiots, small mentions of PTSD but it's all ok, the Captain shows emotion...ish, tory bastardry, we all know, we love our dead children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:55:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26103013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wanna_be_goodr/pseuds/Wanna_be_goodr
Summary: Somehow Button House has been restored, but all the bedrooms are crying out for some decorating… Alison has an idea to kill two birds with one stone re: housemates’ happiness and house décor (but maybe she should use a different phrase when talking to her phantom friends…)
Relationships: Alison & Button House Ghosts (Ghosts TV 2019), Alison (Ghosts TV 2019) & Everyone, Alison/Mike (Ghosts TV 2019)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 147





	Making Button House a Home

**Author's Note:**

> Button House in not a hotel. I don’t know how M&A got the money/what they’ll do with BH now but still… Please suspend your disbelief and try to enjoy this fluff and nonsense that I wrote, inspired by a tumblr post I saw ages ago which I kinda stole but the fleshed out a bit so please don’t sue me 
> 
> Please enjoy, and if you do maybe gimme some kudos or leave a comment please? I need validation, as always, from strangers on the internet!

Somehow, miraculously, Button House has been restored to its former glory, and now could well be “worth at least one and a half thousand pounds”, according to Fanny. It’s a house with proper plumbing, working electrics (occasionally Robin disagrees), and state-of-the-art-drainage. The floors support weight, the roof no longer leaks, and Mike’s finally found the other kitchen. The main rooms have been slightly modernised with better fixtures and fittings but as much of the house’s history as possible has been preserved. Now, the real work starts. Alison calls them all into the drawing room one day and asks them to have a think about what they want their rooms to look like. 

Pat’s eyes shine and Kitty gasps out, “OUR rooms? You mean, they’ll still be ours?” Alison smiles and nods, and Pat makes an abortive attempt to rush forward and hug her. There’s a chorus of gratitude from the ghosts:

“Fair lady Alison, you have the most generous heart, and the most captivating eyes, and the most -”

“- Well, that is jolly decent of you, much appreciated -”

“- Alison you are simply the bestest friend ever!”

They set to work decorating their rooms.

Robin’s is painted a neutral stone colour, and one of the many chess boards of Button House takes up its permanent place in Robin’s room, where no one can knock it over or interrupt his games. He even manages to persuade Alison to try her hand at cave painting on his walls. Mike loves it and tries his absolute hardest to make Robin happy, taking over from Alison once she’s had enough of Robin’s critiques – honestly, how much detail does a bloody cliff-face need? Stick men and (badly drawn) woolly mammoths from Robin’s memories soon cover one of his walls. Mike also prints out some stencils, and Robin roars with laughter and joy when he sees chess pieces painted on another wall. “It’s like having a toddler” Alison says to herself, but whether she means the ecstatic caveman or the proud millennial, no-one knows.

Humphrey’s fairly easy about the whole thing, ideally he just wants a safe place to keep his body when they become “separated”. Short of stabbing scarves and bandages or strangling some superglue to get them to pass over and permanently re-attach Humphrey’s head to his body, Alison doesn’t really know what to do for him. They buy some nice paisley wallpaper that keeps him happy, and he wants some of the portraits from other rooms, so they get moved and re-hung. His room is cosy but organised – not a lot of clutter and could easily be a guest room if needed. It fits the décor of the rest of the house, and Humphrey’s almost never in it anyway, as his body doesn’t listen when it’s told it has to stay, and … well, it can walk through walls.

Once Mary realises she can have anything that she wants because this room properly hers now, she promptly asks for a bright colour that’s clean and joyful. Alison picks out a pastel blue paint and Mary is delighted. There are some cute prints of farm animals (though not swans) that Alison finds online which Mary wants hung above her bed. Her windows are the cleanest of the house so she can have as much light as possible and she loves it. Alison decides that Mary needs some new curtains and buys a daffodil yellow pair for her. Mike finds a few small ceramic figurines of ducks (again, not swans) and Mary adores them, so they live on her windowsill.

Thomas ideally wants real rococo furniture but Alison struggles to find any and it’s all way too expensive. She finds an old desk with ornately carved legs in the corner of the library and she and Mike manage to manoeuvre it into his room. Of course, it is set up with some fancy paper Ali found in the attic, and some nice pens Mike sourced from an old study. Thomas can’t write at his desk, obviously, but he’s still thrilled. With a quick lick of forest green paint for a feature wall and some prints of Thomas’ favourite poems found online, his room is finished. An invitation for Alison to spend some time in there with him (“…alone… without Michael…”) is extended but firmly rejected. Thomas takes this on the chin and apologises for being so forward – he’s got much better with boundaries since the Coopers moved in.

Kitty is elated but takes the longest to decide what she wants. In the end, she goes for a pastel pink on the walls and an eclectic collection of the photographs from around the house. She doesn’t know anyone in them, but says thinking about their lives is fun, and she treasures them all. She just loves people. Alison feels a bit silly and self-obsessed taking a selfie with Mike and framing it to put in Kitty’s room, but when the young ghost sees it she jumps up and claps and twirls her skirts around in ecstasy. Alison grins and laments the fact that she and kitty can’t take photos together, but Kitty says this is enough. If Kitty were living, Alison would have reached out and held her hand.

Fanny wants her room to be period-appropriate. She doesn’t really want much change, and certainly doesn’t want anything modern. The room’s furniture is left as-is (after a proper polish and a little re-arranging), and the room is painted in a timeless neutral colour - of which even Fanny approves. However, Alison sees some prints of flowers online and hangs them on the walls, much to Fanny’s pleasure.

The Captain gets Alison and Mike’s old TV from their first place together, which is constantly on the history channel. All he needs is for Alison to turn it on when his programmes air (he learns the schedules off by heart, an activity he enjoys almost as much as watching the shows). He also has an old record player and records to listen to when he wishes. His wallpaper is cream and simple, but once Alison has finished with the others she decides to add a bit more to his space. She finds some khaki green paint that she uses to paint a feature wall behind the bed. He has been banished from the room while this finishing touch has been made, and when he phases through the door his face is unreadable. He looks at the wall and clears his throat. The he looks some more. He clears his throat. More looking, more slightly uncomfortable noises from the Captain. Alison panics. She should have checked with him first, she thinks. She suddenly remembers that certain smells have been known to trigger deeply repressed memories and wonders if colours can do the same. Is the Captain having some kind of panic attack? Does he suffer from PTSD? And has Alison, in her infinite bloody wisdom, reminded him of something he had worked so hard to forget? She tries to tell him she’s sorry, that she should have asked, should have thought, that they can just cover the wall with the cream paper, when he interrupts her with a raised hand and a deep breath.  
“This is… perfect. Thank you…”

Pat requests a yellow which Alison isn’t sure about until it’s on the walls, but it actually fits the room perfectly, making it feel light and airy. Mike find some posters of some classic films which Pat loved, and they frame them. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Psycho, Jaws, Monty Python, The Godfather, Star Wars; A New Hope… Pat has eclectic film tastes. Mike even prints out some cartoon scout badges that get framed too, and the ghost practically tears up at that. Pat is ever so proud of his new room and insists that “the door’s always open” for anyone, despite his mumbled addition that even if the door were closed that wouldn’t stop 90% of the house’s inhabitants.

Julian originally wants his room painted Party colours, but Alison refuses point blank and is hugely relieved when Julian agrees and settles for cream walls with some gold accents – curtain rail, door handle, light shade. Cheeky bastards as always, though, he manages to bend Alison’s rule slightly and persuades her to let him have some Tory blue curtains, which are actually a nice colour and as long as Julian shuts up about the good old days of Party conferences, Alison and Mike can definitely stomach some low-level Party pride. An old rug that was rolled up in the corner of one of the countless rooms lays on the wooden floors of Julian’s room, and he’s actually rather fond of it. He takes a few of the more recent books from the library and has them on his own shelves – 1984, Lord of the Flies, some H.G. Wells. Alison doesn’t really understand this because his powers only enable him to poke – the books are never read, but Julian’s glad of them anyway. He rather enjoys his new accommodation, and thanks both Alison and Mike with rare authenticity.

Once Alison persuades Mike down into the cellar, she asks the plague ghosts if the want anything changed. They look around and talk amongst themselves for a bit, then a democratically elected spokesperson (Craig) steps forward as says:

“If you were planning on doing something about the number of cobwebs down here, we’d be grateful. But, we’ve been here for so long now, we wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s our home.”

There are murmurs of assent from the group, and Craig nods gratefully at Alison and steps back into the crowd. Immediately discussion starts about why it had to be Craig who got to talk to Alison.

“I could have done it -”

“- We know, Jeff, but we chose Craig -”

“- Yeah, Jeff, we chose Craig -”

“- Craig’s always the one who gets to speak though…”

“Shut up Nigel!”

“Alright, alright, we chose Craig and that decision was fair – AND FINAL!”

“Well I know that don’t I? I was just saying, you know. I could have…”

The newest Button rolls her eyes at her husband, who raises his eyebrows questioningly. Alison shakes her head slightly, and drags him back up the stairs.

Not worth it, she thinks to herself with a small smile.


End file.
